February 22, 201016 yr I want to update an older Icy Dock 5 in 3 to a new hard disk backplane and I would like to go trayless. It just seems to me that the whole purpose of having a hot swap backplane is to make hard drive swapping fast and easy, and having to take 4 screws in and out of a standard tray just isn't much better than opening the case and putting the screws in there... I have found the following, but all have their quirks: This one has (2) 50mm fans. I would really like a single 120mm fan for quiet operation, ready replacement availability and long life. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994077&cm_re=trayless-_-17-994-077-_-Product This one is very slick looking (also available in black), but has the same fan problem and reviewers complaining about build quality: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215083&cm_re=trayless-_-16-215-083-_-Product This one looks fairly generic AND has the same small fan as the others - I am beginning to think that one company OEMs all of these! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816119024&cm_re=trayless-_-16-119-024-_-Product Any other suggestions from the community or comments on the above systems from current users?
March 7, 201016 yr Do any of the ones available have provisions (grooves) for the little "shelves" that stick out about 1/4" ??
March 9, 201016 yr Author Do any of the ones available have provisions (grooves) for the little "shelves" that stick out about 1/4" ?? I don't believe any 5 in 3 tray can accomodate the shelves. I've seen other configurations that do (4 in 3s). You can see that this one does, for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994061&cm_re=4_in_3%5c-_-17-994-061-_-Product
March 9, 201016 yr GaryMaster - did you ever try any of those trayless 5-in-3's? In talking to a manufacturer a while ago (I think is was a guy at SNT), he said they didn't work very well in a vertical orientation (the way they would be oriented in a tower chassis).
March 9, 201016 yr Author GaryMaster - did you ever try any of those trayless 5-in-3's? In talking to a manufacturer a while ago (I think is was a guy at SNT), he said they didn't work very well in a vertical orientation (the way they would be oriented in a tower chassis). No, I eventually ended up purchasing a new Chenbro case instead (still a tray based system, unfortunately). I still like the idea of trayless and would go this route if I were buying a new 5 in 3. This is the ideal solution for convenience and speed to swap a drive.
March 12, 201016 yr I want to update an older Icy Dock 5 in 3 to a new hard disk backplane and I would like to go trayless. It just seems to me that the whole purpose of having a hot swap backplane is to make hard drive swapping fast and easy, and having to take 4 screws in and out of a standard tray just isn't much better than opening the case and putting the screws in there... I have found the following, but all have their quirks: This one has (2) 50mm fans. I would really like a single 120mm fan for quiet operation, ready replacement availability and long life. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994077&cm_re=trayless-_-17-994-077-_-Product This one is very slick looking (also available in black), but has the same fan problem and reviewers complaining about build quality: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816215083&cm_re=trayless-_-16-215-083-_-Product This one looks fairly generic AND has the same small fan as the others - I am beginning to think that one company OEMs all of these! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816119024&cm_re=trayless-_-16-119-024-_-Product Any other suggestions from the community or comments on the above systems from current users? Save yourself some money and make your own docks. 10 minutes per dock. If you have a case with fans in the front, you are all set. See this link: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3630.0
March 12, 201016 yr Author Save yourself some money and make your own docks. 10 minutes per dock. If you have a case with fans in the front, you are all set. See this link: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3630.0 Thanks for trying to help, but this does not have the appearance or functionality I would want to have. As mentioned above, I ended up purchasing a new Chenbro 4 bay ITX NAS server case instead, but would still be very interested in experiences others have with the trayless 5 in 3 units. To me, the screwless installation convenience is everything a hot swap bay should be.
December 21, 201015 yr Whatever the option, make sure you can read the Serial numbers easily on the front of the hard drives. Makes life easier when one fails, figuring out which drive went.
January 26, 201214 yr I know this is digging up an old topic, but I wanted to chime in and suggest living with trays and checking out the Addonics 5SA. It has one huge fan in the back and per-drive activity and power control (recessed toggle switches you push with a pen) up front. I made hand written labels of each disk's WWN for the front of my trays, definitely helps with troubleshooting and covers up the holographic 'Addonics' text. It's certainly not perfect, but I've been very happy and don't mind having to twist four screws on the rare occasions I need to swap disks. Before these, I had two KingWin 4in3 trayless enclosures each with two tiny fans on the back. After about 16months one of the fans died and as a result the top drive succumbed to heat death (cause apparently heat rises). So I swapped in a new KingWin 4in3 only to have one of the fans start whining after only a couple months. Straight to the bin. As part of the post-mortem I found the spec sheet for the random chinese sourced fan and it was rated for 10k hours (14months of 24/7 use) just long enough to get past the one year warranty. So yeah, don't cheap out on fans.
January 26, 201214 yr If you check out the stickied 5x3 at the top of this section you can see that I elected to go with the later version of the iStarUSA BPN-350 cages. I got around the fan/cooling problem by removing the back panel and fans from the cages and ensured that all the cooling air flows in through the drive cages. This setup has been running for five months in ambient temperatures which frequently go above 30C. I'm very pleased with the cages.
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